


Seek and Hide

by lil_1337



Series: The Artie Bunch [1]
Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-12
Updated: 2011-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-07 01:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/425300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_1337/pseuds/lil_1337
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joshua comes to visit Claudia and meets the new guy.  </p><p><b>Prompt:</b> Warehouse 13, Steve/Joshua & Claudia, Claudia plays matchmaker!<br/><b>Summary:</b> Joshua comes to visit Claudia and meets the new guy.  Written for <span class="ljuser ljuser-name_smallfandomfest"><a href="http://smallfandomfest.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://smallfandomfest.livejournal.com/"><b>smallfandomfest</b></a></span><br/><b>Notes/Warnings: </b> For <span class="ljuser ljuser-name_megan_moonlight"></span><a href="http://megan-moonlight.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://megan-moonlight.livejournal.com/"><b>megan_moonlight</b></a> because it is her prompt and I promised her I would write her a Josh/Steve get together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seek and Hide

**Author's Note:**

  * For [megan_moonlight](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=megan_moonlight).



> References:  
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Went_Hensley>
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>  
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> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RGS_13.jpg>
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>  
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> <http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/boogienightsvol1/brandnewkey.htm>
> 
>  
> 
> <http://lyrics.rockmagic.net/lyrics/pink_floyd/the_wall_1979.html#s04>
> 
>  
> 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Joachim_Rheticus>

“Artie! We’re home!” The saccharine sweetness and attempted imitation of Desi Arnaz Jr. did nothing to hide the happiness in Claudia’s voice. Her words echoed down the umbilical and announced her presence in Warehouse 13 before she made an actual appearance. One of the upsides and downsides of having a building designed by the most famous and usually craziest architects around was that the acoustics were stellar and Claudia, being Claudia had learned to use them to her advantage. She bounced into the office with a laptop bag slung over one shoulder and carry on bag over the other. Trailing behind her looking exhausted and amused, in a way that only a big brother can be, was Josh rolling a much larger suitcase that hinted at the length of his intended stay.

Artie looked up from his desk, a crooked smile softening the contours of his face. “Joshua. It’s good to see you.” He frowned then smiled again. “You’ve lost weight.”

Joshua grinned. “I finally got a clean bill of health from my doctor so I've been running and learning to snowboard.” He turned slightly and grinned at his sister. “Claudia's coming to visit at Christmas and she made me promise to take her.”

“Better you than me. Sliding down a hill on a piece of wood sounds like a great way to break or possibly _rebreak_ a leg.” Artie turned back to the papers spread over his desk. “Claudia, where is the research you were working on earlier? Pete and Myka might have a line on the George Went Hensley bible and I need to know if there is a specific type of venom associated with it. Pygmy rattlesnake is the most likely, but we don't want to rule out anything yet.”

“I’m on it as soon as I get back from the B and B.”

“I need that information immediately. If this is not the Hensley bible I am going to need a list of all the artifacts that manifest with snake bite. There are people dying in Baltimore. The trip to town will have to wait, Claudia.”

“Artie, Joshua has been traveling for the last thirty six hours. It won’t take me that long to run him into Univille and come back.”

“This can't wait. You'll have to do it later.”

“I can, actually, hear you guys.” Joshua tried to cut into the conversation, but was immediately run over by the escalating discussion between Claudia and Artie. Sighing heavily Josh lowered himself into Claudia's chair and put his head down on his arms to catch a short nap while he waited to see who would win.

“I can take him.” Two heads swiveled and one raised up in surprise. Steve grinned as he raised a large silver tube in the air to work the strap over his head. “I just got back snagging and bagging that painting you sent me for. I just need to tag it and I can do that when I get back.” With one hand Steve leaned the tube against his desk while offering his other to Joshua. “Steve Jinks.”

“Joshua Donovan, Claudia’s brother.” Joshua wiped his hand on his leg before taking Steve’s. “It's nice to finally meet you. Claudia talks about you all the time.”

“Only good things I hope.” Steve's grin gave the appearance of serenity though the slight shifting of his weight from one foot to the other contradicted it.

Joshua opened his mouth to reply, but the words were stolen away, but a long, jaw cracking yawn. “Sorry about that. I haven’t slept in about thirty six hours unless you count the nap on the plane which I don’t.” He stopped long enough to kiss the top of Claudia’s head, grinning when she nodded in his direction, her eyes fixed on the monitor in front of her as her fingers flew across the keyboard.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The room was dark and silent when Joshua awoke to the insistent tirade of a bladder that had spent too long bonding with coffee and now wished to be rid of it. He crawled out from under the covers and made his way to the door. His sense of time told him it was the wee hours of the morning and lack of light or sound seemed to confirm that. Not wanting to wake anyone else up he opted not to turn the light, but left the door slightly ajar instead so he could identify his room on the way back.

The bathroom was where he remembered it which gave him a moment of pride as it had been almost six month since his last visit. Several minutes and a quick doze later with the call of nature answered, but no less fuzzy headed he worked his way back down the hall running a hand along the wall to count the doors as he passed them.

His room was the third on the left, across from Claudia and next to Steve. Sleepily he counted three door frames before turning the knob to enter his room. Tripping over a chair he didn’t remember Joshua rubbed at the spot where he would no doubt have a bruise the next day and gratefully lowered himself back down on the bed. With a contented sigh he snuggled down into the soft mattress. Just as he was drifting off to sleep the thought crossed his mind that it was strange Claudia had asked Leena not to put him in the room he had used before. He was making a mental note to ask her when he fell back into a dreamless slumber.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Jinksy?”

Steve bolted upright knocking the blanket that he had draped over himself to the floor. His feet, still encased in the boots he usually wore, slipped off the chair they had been resting on knocking him off balance so he slid to the floor to join it. “Shit, Claudia, warn a guy will you!” Gingerly he climbed back to his feet rubbing his hand over the longish stubble that covered the top of his head.

Quirking an eyebrow in amusement, Claudia leaned against the wall and waited while Steve picked up the blanket and the shattered remnants of his dignity. “Did you forget where your bed is or is this some Buddhist thing?” The last part of the statement was made in what a clear attempt to imitate Pete’s voice and had the effect of amusing Steve instead of confusing him as it would have from the actual owner of the voice.

“I, uh, just wanted to.”

Claudia raised her eyebrow even higher exaggerating the bemused look on her face. “Seriously? Because I randomly decide my bed is too comfortable and I want to sleep on a couple of chairs all the time.” Sarcasm dripped heavy and thick from her words like syrup from a stack of Leena’s pancakes.

“Just drop it, okay?”

“Jinksy, as the new guy you might not realize it but we are Warehouse agents so it our job to investigate strange behavior even in each other. Especially in each other. What if you accidentally came in contact with the bed of nails in the Herbert Ponting fakir in India picture and can’t sleep on anything soft? Stranger things have happened. Seriously, there was this one time when Pete was messing around and touched a piece of the original battering ram. He was running his head into doors for like three hours until we figured out what had happened. It was pretty funny, actually, though he had a hell of a headache the next day.”

“It's nothing artifact related I promise. Really, Claudia, just drop it.”

“Nope. Sorry. No can do. Maybe I should go check out your room.”

“No!” Steve’s horrified look brought Claudia to a stop with her foot on the first of the steps leading up to the living area.

“Why not?”

“Yourbrotherisasleepinmybed.” A bright crimson blush flooded across Steve’s cheeks and he sank down into the closest chair.

Claudia blinked once then twice before a grin broke over her face. “Jinksy, you stud. That is a total Laverne move. I didn’t even know Joshua swung that way. I thought he might, but I didn't know _know_.”

“It’s not like that!” Steve hissed, cutting her off while executing a perfect deer in the headlights look. “I came home last night and there he was. He looked so peaceful and he was really tired so I didn’t want to wake him up. I decided to camp out down here. That’s all it is I swear.” He paused to take a breath of air and pushed on, his brain and mouth filter clearly disengaged. “Not that Joshua isn’t attractive, he is. But he's your brother and you're kind of like my little sister which would be weird, right?” The hint of a soft smile tugging at the corner of Steve’s lips did nothing to soften the increasing look of panic. “Oh God, just shoot me now please!”

Holding her stomach Claudia slid down the wall gasping for breath and shaking with completely unrestrained peals of laughter. When she was finally able to control her breathing she wiped her eyes and stood. “He hasn’t done that in a long time.” At Steve's confused look she explained. “When he was younger if he got up in the night we would find him in all sorts of strange places. Once, when our parents were alive, I woke up and he was curled up on the floor half under my bed. Another time we found him in the tub using the bathmat as a blanket. The best one though, was when we found him in a dress shirt, boxers, and socks sound asleep in the middle of the kitchen table. ”

“Oh.” The tension went out of Steve’s shoulders and he grinned. “That’s okay then. I thought…” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “ Nevermind.”

Claudia grinned then began climbing the stairs. “Come on, you can help me get him back into his own bed. It’s better not to wake him up and I can’t move him on my own.”

“Sure, right.” Steve hurried after her trying to dismiss the warm feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach that Claudia appeared to approve of the idea of Steve sleeping with her brother. The idea was both intimidating and exciting in a way Steven hadn't felt in quite a while.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“I think I owe you an apology.”

Steve turned, juggling the artifact in his hand that threatened to tumble to the ground. With a decisive grab he managed to capture what appeared to be the key to a small metal key and set it carefully on the shelf next to a pair of old fashioned clamp on quad roller skates. “No problem. Claudia told me about it.”

Joshua flinched slightly, shuffling his feet. “Yeah she said she did, and then proceeded to drill me about my sex life for an hour.”

“Ouch.” Steve’s grin was pure commiseration. “That’s awkward.”

“No kidding. I now know she is flexible, but prefers dudes, which is something I didn’t really want or need to know. I did appreciate the reassurance that she doesn’t care who I want to date as long as he or she is good to me though I always figured I'd be on the other side of that conversation.” Joshua paused to push his hair back from his face carefully looking everywhere, but at Steve. “I also got the shovel speech too just in case. Oh, and apparently you are quite the catch.” Joshua’s fingers formed quote marks in the air while he spoke the last three words.

“I’m really sorry.” The sympathy in Steve’s voice was not the least bit tempered by the smug smile spreading across his face.

Joshua grinned, shrugging. “You don’t need to apologize. I’m glad Claudia has friends here that are important enough for her to threaten bodily harm to anyone who might hurt them.”

“There’s no one I’d rather chase artifacts with than Claudia. She's the Laverne to my Shirley.”

“Since I’m currently living in Switzerland I’m willing to share her with you. Someone besides Artie needs to keep an eye on her. He's slowing down a bit these days.”

Steve leaned back resting one shoulder against the metal upright of the aisle of shelves. “I'm sure we can negotiate something will be mutually acceptable.”

“We should discuss it over lunch unless you already have plans. My treat since this whole mess is my fault.” Joshua’s smile held a mixture of amusement and lingering embarrassment.

“You know this is going to add fuel to the fire, right.”

“I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

Steve pulled off his purple gloves and set them on the shelf next to the innocuous looking key that gave its owner the uncontrollable urge to stalk his or her romantic interest. “We should stop to say good bye on our way out.”

Smirking, Josh nodded in agreement. “I like how you think.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“…Artie grabbed me, dipped me and planted one right on my lips.”

“That is the most disturbing thing I’ve ever heard.” Steve mimicked a full body shudder as he pulled the seat belt across his chest, locking it in place.

“Oh, it gets better. Once he realized what had happened he just dropped me, right onto the floor. I bruised my tailbone.”

Steve spun the wheel of his Prius and carefully backed out of his spot at the warehouse “I think I would have had to quit if that happened to me. I can’t imagine looking at Artie every day after having kissed him. That would be way too messed up!”

“You know the worst part?” Joshua turned partially in his seat allowing him a full profile of Steve.

“There's a _worst_ part?”

“Artie is a really good kisser.”

“You’re not lying. Oh, God, why aren’t you lying?” Steve mock moaned and flashed a pained look in the direction of his passenger. “That was serious TMI, you know.”

“Pain shared is pain halved” Joshua shifted in his seat, smug smile on his face. “What was your strangest experience with an artifact? You’ve had a few already, right?”

Steve considered the question, driving in silence for a couple minutes as he thought it over. “Probably the time I got bronzed. Though I’m not sure that is actually an artifact.”

“You were bronzed?” Joshua’s tone hinted at a mixture of horror and awe. “Why?”

“Pete and Myka got drunk from playing with W.C. Fields’ juggling balls and thought it would be a great prank.”

“How long were you stuck like that?”

“A few hours I think. Long enough for them to sleep it off and figure out what had happened.”

“What was it like?”

“Strange like time was passing around me and I was outside of it; separate but connected still in a weird way.” Steve frowned. “It’s hard to put into words. Once, right after I converted to Buddhism I did a long fast and meditation, towards the end I got light headed and sort of floaty. It reminded me of that.”

“I know what you mean. That’s a lot like it was when I was in Rheticus’ compass. There were times when I could see and almost touch Claudia, but mostly I was just kind of there, trying to figure out how to get out. It was more consciousness and mental even though I was in my body.”

The opening strains for ‘Young Lust’ burst through the speaker and Steve spun the volume knob all the way down, a bright blush staining his cheeks. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel and the car accelerated noticeably. “Pete tried to free Mrs. Fredric one time because of Abe Lincoln’s hat. He said she didn't take it well.” The words tumbled out, falling over each other like hyperactive puppies. “I wouldn’t want to be on the bad side of her. That woman is scary as hell. When she recruited me she left a message on my answering machine to turn on the lights because we needed to talk and when I did _bam_ there she was. It was freaky.”

“I only met her once and that was enough.”

“Count yourself lucky. She makes Artie look like a teddy bear.” Steve grinned, looked both ways and turned the corner past the Univille Garden Conservatory onto the main road that ran through town.

“Artie is a teddy bear. He just acts tough.”

Making an immediate left Steve turned into the lot beside the Univille café and parked the car. “I guess you can learn a lot about a guy from one kiss huh?” He turned to grin wickedly at Joshua only to be met by a pair of lips planted firmly against his. The kiss was quick, but deep and hard meant to convey promise, interest and passion in a single exchange.

Joshua broke away slowly, smiling when Steve’s eyes finally opened. “You tell me.” With a smirk he climbed out of the car leaving Steve speechless, but grinning.


End file.
